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AMA says opportunity to assess effectiveness of national registration has been squandered

08 Nov 2018

AMA President, Dr Tony Bartone, said that the AMA is deeply disappointed that the COAG Health Council has squandered the opportunity to really evaluate the effectiveness of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (the National Law), which provides the legislative base for the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) for doctors. The AMA having recently lodged its submission to the COAG Health Council on the Regulation of Australia’s health professions: Keeping the National Law up to date and fit for purpose.

The consultation document provided to stakeholders lacks intellectual rigour and does not allow proper analysis of the effectiveness of the scheme Dr Bartone said.

“Health practitioners need to be able to operate in a system that provides clarity and which supports the health and wellbeing of patients and practitioners alike.”

“The counter-productive impacts of the existing mandatory reporting legislation are front of mind for the medical profession,” Dr Bartone said.

“We have seen with mandatory reporting how getting the system wrong prevents health practitioners accessing the medical care and treatment they need in a timely way. We need to ensure that we do not make similar mistakes with the National Law scheme.”

The AMA has called for the removal of the concept of a non-medical Chair of the Medical Board of Australia – as this position is too important and challenging to have someone who does not understand medical practice.